A/N: "accidentally" took an opportunity to make a Doctor Who reference in this chapter, it's kinda obscure but if you spot it, do tell me :P

Strangers

At wake up Newt was surprised to find G already out of her hammock and missing from the Homestead. It seemed her and Nick had arranged the previous day to have a bath arranged for her before any of the other boys awoke, and she returned after breakfast with damp hair, wrinkled fingers, and an uncharacteristically bright smile.

"I didn't know your face could even do that," Newt said, only half joking as the girl sat down opposite him in the kitchen with a bowl of porridge drizzled with honey in front of her.

Her smile took on a slight sarcastic tone but lost none of its vigour. "That's the first time I remember brushing my teeth but I am positive it was better than any other time in my whole life," she said in reply.

"Yes we are ever so lucky that whoever put us here cares about our dental hygiene so much as to give us toothbrushes and such," Minho interjected from Newt's side. "Too bad they don't care about our actual lives with equal devotion."

G laughed; Minho and Newt stared. G laughed. Not just the small smiles and light chuckles of the past few days, the girl actually laughed, loud enough to draw the attention of a few other boys around them as well. She noticed their looks and quietened, looking embarrassed. "What?"

Minho and Newt shook their heads simultaneously. "Nothing," Newt said hastily. "Just we didn't know you could do that either."

"Shut up," G shot back a little sharply.

"Ah, there she is," Minho grinned.

"I spoke too soon," Newt added with mock wistfulness.

"I will harm you both."

Nick, who had arrived just as G had pronounced her threat, took the seat next to the Greenie with a laugh. "I see you're settling into the Glade better than you were yesterday. Was the bath okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, thanks Nick," she said with honest gratitude.

"Thanks for that public service, Nick," Minho quipped. "I have to say though, it's a shame to say goodbye to the ecosystem of plant life in her hair that I was growing attached to."

"I agree, it really brought the Homestead together," Newt mused jokingly.

"Feng shui," Minho nodded, looking solemn.

"Greenie's going to the Slicers today, you two better hope she doesn't use her new skills on you later," Nick said, glancing at G's monumentally pissed off expression. At the boy's statement however, she was thankfully distracted from the two and looked quizzically at Nick.

"I'm going where?"

"Slicers, I told you about them yesterday. They take care of the animals until we need them for more gastronomical matters," Nick said with his usual good natured lilt.

"Then they cut the poor buggers open, pull their guts out, and donate them to the resident Glader pranksters for underhand slipping into the innocent looking meals of Greenies, such as breakfast porridge." Newt said seriously. G's former agitation returned and she rounded on him with a dangerous look to her eyes.

"I wonder, how much of this porridge do you think I could shove up your-"

"Well," Nick said hurriedly as he stood. "If you're nearly done G, I'll walk you over to the Bloodhouse and leave you with Winston. He'll take care of you until lunchtime."

G, who seemed to have a strange respect for Nick, shoveled porridge down her throat with a speed that impressed even Minho (who was renowned for both his appetite and the velocity that he could attempt to quench it), and stood as well, dashing off to give her bowl to Frypan before returning.

"See you later, G for Greenie," Newt grinned.

"Bye G for Geek," Minho waved.

G bid them farewell with a rude hand gesture as she followed Nick away in the direction of the Bloodhouse to begin her official Tour in search of her appropriate Glader job. It was not long afterwards that Minho and Nick finished their own breakfasts and took to the Maze; as usual, there was an awful lot of running to do.


"You finished?" Minho called from a path to his left.

"Yeah, nothing," Newt called back, turning the corner to find his friend with his water bottle out leaning against the wall.

"Let's head back then, maybe the others found something."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Today could be the day, Newt," Minho grinned with feigned optimism as he shoved the bottle back into his pack and fastened his harness.

The two boys took off running back towards the Glade, turning the corners with ease along that day's route back. They knew the Maze's pattern so mind-numbingly well that it was barely an hour before the green of the Glade appeared before them, along with the other Runners, already returned.

It was the usual report; nothing of consequence found, no exits magically appeared, no hints or clues discovered. The disappointment they all felt was the result of an inextinguishable hope that still foolishly appeared in every Runner as they entered the Maze every morning, despite the same report being given every day for the past two and a half years. Trudging back to the kitchen for lunch, Newt and Minho didn't even bother removing their Runner's gear, too tired and dispirited for anything other than a good meal from Frypan.

They sat down heavily with Alby, Nick, and surprisingly, Gally, who was apparently having one of his rare tolerable days.

There was little conversation, the faces of the Runners speaking volumes. Frypan took his break ten minutes later and sat with the group as well, bringing with him his unfailing determination to cheer up anyone and everyone he could. Newt had talked to Alby many a time about the older boy's early experiences, the ones where Alby had been alone in the Glade for an entire month. It was days like these that he really appreciated what Alby meant when he said that the most important thing was that they had each other. Once again, Alby's strength to spend so long in the Glade by himself amazed Newt, and he thought of how he himself would have fared in the same position.

Probably would have died the first day, was his conclusion.

"Hey Newt!"

He turned to see another Runner, Kyle, walking towards them escorting the Newbie back from her first day out working. As Kyle arrived he nodded at the other boys at the table with a grin on his face.

"Hey guys, Winston told me that you wanted the Newbie back for lunch Nick," Kyle said, looking over his shoulder to G, who was hanging back a few steps.

"Thanks Kyle, could you grab some food for that shuckface, the guy never eats anything other than raw offle," Nick said with a wry look.

Kyle nodded and left, leaving a shaken looking G standing before their table. Newt appraised her with the rest of his friends; she was completely covered in mud, had grass stains on her pants, and blood on her sleeves.

"So much for that bath," Minho laughed.

"My sides are splitting," she said with lethal sarcasm.

"Come on Greenie, have some lunch," Frypan said, leaning over and handing her a plate of the stir fry that had composed their meal. She took it gratefully and sat down, eyeing Gally with surprise as she began to eat.

"Don't get your hopes up, Greenie," Gally shot out sullenly. "I still don't trust you."

"However shall I manage."

"Do you ever say anything that isn't sarcastic, or are we to expect another shucking Minho around here?" Alby asked her.

G's gaze flicked over to him and she gave him a smile that Newt could not describe as anything other than smart-assed.

"Of course I say things that aren't sarcastic," she said sarcastically. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"God it's like I'm looking in the mirror," Minho stared at her.

"I note a few fundamental differences," said Newt, his hand on his chin as he looked between the two.

"Moving on," Nick rolled his eyes. "How was working as a Slicer, Greenie?"

G shuddered. "I couldn't do it," she admitted.

"Too much blood for a girl?" Gally jabbed rather weakly.

G snorted. "Did they wipe your memory of the female anatomy as well as your sense of humour or something?"

Looking flushed, Gally stood and left, though Newt wasn't sure whether or not this was due to the burn of G's retort, or some kind of odd founded embarrassment from her implication.

"So not a Slicer, then? No inner calling to raise animals for months, growing emotionally attached to them and forming irreplaceable relationships with them before brutally slaughtering them and consuming their flesh?"

"No Newt, I don't think I'll be a Slicer," she said with a roll of her eyes that rivaled Nick's.

"Where are you sending her tomorrow, Nick?" Alby asked.

"Track-hoes, see if she can give Zart a bit of help."

Alby thought for a second. "It would be good to get her there, Zart's been telling me they're shorthanded."

"I'll put an ad in the paper," Nick said, his expression not changing.

Newt, Minho, Frypan, and Alby descended into laughter, and G joined them, bringing her daily laugh count to a record breaking two.

"You're happier today," Fry said to her. "It's nice to see you smiling more. First week is always hard."

G nodded, looking a bit more serious. "It's still hard," she said honestly, "but I didn't expect you all to be sarcastic shits like me." She frowned. "Well really, I didn't expect myself to be a sarcastic shit either."

The table sobered. G didn't seem to notice, and continued talking to Fry. "It's so bizarre," she said, "learning about myself the same way I'm getting to know you guys, like I'm a stranger. I don't know what foods I like, or when I like to get up in the morning, or how I like to drink tea. But at the same time, I know that I'm supposed to have foods I like and don't like, and that different people get up at different times in the morning, and all the ways people drink tea. It's like-" She paused, searching for some way to explain the feeling. "It's kind of like someone's speaking to me in a language I can listen to and understand but can't write down or read. I can't remember anything, but all the information is there. I feel… hollowed out."

Her speech ended, and she noticed for the first time the rest of the table watching her, listening to her speak. Her face coloured, a reaction that was wholly unexpected by Newt, and he wondered how someone so confident dishing out such sarcastic klunk could find attention embarrassing.

"It doesn't go away," Alby said quietly, breaking the silence. "That feeling. Whoever put us here did just that, hollowed us all out." He looked up at her. "But you do have something," he said with a light smile. "You have these idiot shuckfaces to keep you company. You're only on day four, G, give it time and we'll help you figure out at least a few of those things again."

G wasn't looking at him, her gaze was set resolutely on the grain of the table and her lips her pressed together tightly like she was trying not to cry. Nick put his arm around her and she offered him a weak smile, but the watery look to her eyes didn't go away. Newt stared down at his own plate, now empty. The table's conversation picked up again and veered away from serious topics quickly, and soon they were laughing again, but Newt kept quiet; his budding good mood that had taken root during the meal had vanished and G's words weren't leaving him alone.

Like I'm a stranger.

How did he like his tea? Newt looked out over the Glade and saw Kyle heaving a barrel across the field. What was Kyle's favourite food? Did he like to watch T.V.? Was it dinosaurs, stars, or flowers that had decorated the boy's bedspread when he was a kid?

An overwhelming sadness flowed over Newt. What had been on his own bedspread? What had he and his family had stupid fights about? What stories had he been read at night? Which songs had he liked? Who had been his best friend?

It was all gone.

All the ridiculously inane little things that made up his personality were gone, leaving him with reactions to things he didn't understand and a life he missed without even remembering it. The laughs of his friends suddenly went from being distant and muffled to unbearably loud, and he stood quickly. Muttering a goodbye, Newt left the kitchen and walked towards the Homestead; all he wanted to do now was sleep. He wanted to sleep for years and years and wake up somewhere far away with a cup of tea made just the way he liked best, his favourite song playing on repeat, and a book he had read a thousand times in his lap.

A/N: Thank you again to my amazing reviewers, you guys are so kind and wonderful and I love you to bits. Seriously. On this chapter, there's a good deal more conversation between the characters which was both fun and constructive to write. Things got a little sad at the end, but hey, the realities of life in the Glade huh :/